Reliable wireless communication services rely on various forms of feedback. Such forms of feedback include information about transmission channels, error coding, and reception information in terms of both positive and negative acknowledgments regarding the reception of data. The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) specifications and specifications for other wireless standards have outlined various scenarios for the transmission of such data between a User Equipment (UE) and a base station, or an evolved Node B (eNodeB) (uses of eNodeB are considered to apply throughout this application to base stations referred to as enhanced Node B base stations).
As demands on wireless communication systems have increased, wireless systems have incorporated new technologies, such as carrier aggregation, to meet these demands. A combination of increased demands and new technologies, however, have resulted in more complicated feedback protocols and increases in the amount of feedback that needs to be communicated. For example, by adding additional component carriers to the communication environment to increase bandwidth, multiple new cells are created, each using the communication of its own additional feedback information.
In this changing environment, outdated protocols result in inefficiencies and failures. For example, some solutions presuppose that UEs are configured for resources, such as channels, that they may not support. At times, feedback information is even lost. Additionally, resources present under pre-existing specifications may no longer be available, having been allocated to meet the demands of new technologies.
As set forth above, feedback data comes in different varieties. However, increasing amounts of feedback information, together with increasing demands placed on resources within the network make it important to be able to combine this feedback information for efficient transmission. This is problematic, as can be appreciated, because each type of feedback data is typically separated at the receiving end of a communication link to be intelligible. To address these needs, new approaches and protocols are needed that are capable of providing the functionality enabled by previous specifications, preferably enabling improved functionality. These new methods and protocols need to be robust and reliable. Furthermore, they need to accommodate increasing demands and changes without presupposing the existence of resources that may not be present by being able to concurrently transmit the various types of feedback information on a single channel.
Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated, and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended.